Colorado-Medical-Marijuana-Blog

In what has been considered one of the largest marijuana farm busts in Colorado history, local and federal agents swarmed an area in the San Isabel National Forest in August, netting more than 13,000 marijuana plants that had been growing illegally on public land. The operation had been under surveillance since May when they were alerted by a local hiker to the marijuana farm. The hiker stumbled onto the farm and alerted authorities after noticing the plants and a makeshift lean-to. Two people were arrested in the raid and four escaped. Authorities say that large-scale marijuana farms in Colorado are becoming a stronger problem. In 2009, officials busted another farm in Pike National Forest near Deckers, netting 14,500 marijuana plants. The problem has become so severe that authorities actually have a publication for hikers on what to do if they stumble upon a marijuana garden. The publication is available through the Forest Service.

Forest Service officials have been hard at work this year with the high number of forest fires in the state, but what they didn’t expect to find was a massive marijuana garden on public land. U.S. Attorney John Walsh made it very clear that public safety on forest land is a very high priority and marijuana gardens on that land endanger not only people, but the ecosystem as well. The Waldo Canyon fire caused a great deal of damage to forest land this year in Colorado Springs, destroying 18,247 acres and 346 homes. When this fire was put out, officials found 22 acres of land and approximately 7,500 marijuana plants. While some plants were destroyed in the fire, it was up to officials to remove the rest. Earlier in the year, Pueblo County officials swarmed one of the largest marijuana gardens ever found in Colorado, netting 13,000 plants. The Forest Service explained that marijuana gardens tend to leave behind trash, plastic tubing, siphon water from streams and pollute water sheds with fertilizers and pesticides and can cost the forest service up to $15,000 per acre to return woodland to its natural state.

There is a bounty of problems facing today’s Colorado medical marijuana growers, but the main problem tends to be focused around caregiver rules and regulations. other isssues include legitimization and legalization. Although many growers follow state laws very closely, there are still those who use the cover of state laws to fund their own private marijuana growing and selling operations. States such as Colorado and California have strict state requirements for those who grow the substance for medical use, but even with these strict guidelines in place, there are still individuals who find their way around the rules. Locating these individuals from among the many legitimate growers is a full time job for law enforcement agents operating on both state and federal levels. Although medical marijuana is still considered illegal on a federal level, states such as Colorado allow patients to use the drug for medicinal use as recommended by a physician for physical and mental ailments. In the state of California last year, law enforcement officials pulled up 364,000 plants grown strictly for sale on the black market. However, officials did state that over 154 growers were left intact who were following the guidelines for medical use. The general consensus among people in the medicalmarijuana industry is that legitimate growers make Business more difficult and less profitable for the drug cartels south of the border.

Although a voter-approved amendment to
the state constitution has deemed medical marijuana in Colorado
legal, conflicts still arise. The City of Ft. Collins refused to pay
a couple’s claim for over $200,000 after plants that were seized in
a raid were left to rot and die.

The confiscated plants were returned
to the couple over a year later when a judge ruled that the couple
qualified as Colorado medical marijuana growers. The claim was later
filed by the couple who stated the plants were dry, dead and moldy,
but the Police claim they were not required to keep them alive
because the couple did not have the proper permits. According to the
couple’s attorney a civil suit will probably be filed in state
court in an attempt to force the city to pay for the damages.